Supply Rules

[toddtreadway]

I can't really find much in the manual about how supply for a hex is determined. Is there some detailed explanation in the manual or on this forum? If not, can someone explain it?

Thanks

[FrankHunter]

I was searching the posts from a year ago because I know I explained it but now of course I can't find it. In a nutshell, I gave every hex a supply rating. That rating is not for the supplies generated within the hex but how easy it is to move supplies through it. That number is based on terrain and although railroads aren't on the map, places I knew there were railroads. Plus overall infrastructure so northern France has better supply ratings than Serbia even given the same terrain.

Supply itself is generated in home country cities. All of which are rated for their supply. Berlin for example has a higher rating than Belgrade. Also ports that are receiving sea supply.

So how this works is let's say Belgrade has a supply rating of 150. All hexes around it thus have 150% supply modified by the hex's supply rating. Many of the hexes in Serbia have low ratings so supply level drops fast. A hex with a 50% rating next to Belgrade in the example would thus have a 75% supply level. If the next hex's rating was also 50% that supply level would drop to 37%. There's a railroad that runs down the centre of Serbia so hexes along that path have higher supply ratings which is why you get the effect that some hexes closer to cities actually have worse supply levels than some hexes further away. Its because those hexes lie along a path I knew there was a railway.

Supply from more than one city can affect a hex so essentially there's kind of a "web" effect where supply levels overlap. Cutting a hex off from a city may reduce some of its supply but not all if it can still trace a path to another friendly city.

The supply level of a hex a unit is sitting in is that unit's supply level. That is used when computing readiness recovery and depletion as well as whether to allow replacements to be added etc.

[Lascar]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

I was searching the posts from a year ago because I know I explained it but now of course I can't find it. In a nutshell, I gave every hex a supply rating. That rating is not for the supplies generated within the hex but how easy it is to move supplies through it. That number is based on terrain and although railroads aren't on the map, places I knew there were railroads. Plus overall infrastructure so northern France has better supply ratings than Serbia even given the same terrain.

Supply itself is generated in home country cities. All of which are rated for their supply. Berlin for example has a higher rating than Belgrade. Also ports that are receiving sea supply.

So how this works is let's say Belgrade has a supply rating of 150. All hexes around it thus have 150% supply modified by the hex's supply rating. Many of the hexes in Serbia have low ratings so supply level drops fast. A hex with a 50% rating next to Belgrade in the example would thus have a 75% supply level. If the next hex's rating was also 50% that supply level would drop to 37%. There's a railroad that runs down the centre of Serbia so hexes along that path have higher supply ratings which is why you get the effect that some hexes closer to cities actually have worse supply levels than some hexes further away. Its because those hexes lie along a path I knew there was a railway.

Supply from more than one city can affect a hex so essentially there's kind of a "web" effect where supply levels overlap. Cutting a hex off from a city may reduce some of its supply but not all if it can still trace a path to another friendly city.

The supply level of a hex a unit is sitting in is that unit's supply level. That is used when computing readiness recovery and depletion as well as whether to allow replacements to be added etc.

So do all friendly cities in a country act as supply sources? For example, Warsaw is cut off from other Russian cities, would the supply level of Warsaw drop below its intrinsic supply level?

[FrankHunter]

would the supply level of Warsaw drop below its intrinsic supply level?

Yes, cities cut off from other cities see their intrinsic supply number drop by half every turn.

[toddtreadway]

1) Re the two-city isolation rule: when you say cut off, do you mean that they can't trace any path to each other, or that they must be able to provide some percentage of supply to the hex of the other city?
 
2) Re multiple supply sources (the supply web you referred to): if a hex can trace to multiple sources, will the supply level of a hex be the highest of those multiple sources or will it be increased above that because of the additional sources?
 
3) Re home country cities generating supply: do enemy cities you control provide any supply or affect supply in any way, or must you trace all the way to your home country cities?
 
4) Also, I assume allied nations all trace supply to the same sources, e.g. all CP supply sources are homogenous so that any CP unit can use any CP supply source?
 
Thanks for the info.

[FrankHunter]

1) when you say cut off, do you mean that they can't trace any path to each other

Yes. Before the supply web is done, each city traces to every other city in its home country. If it can reach only 50% of them then that city produces only 50% of its normal supply level. If it can't trace to any other city then its supply level is 0%. Also, if a nation is lacking food by say 20% compared against what it needs then the supply level for each home city is reduced by double, in this case by 40%.

2) Re multiple supply sources (the supply web you referred to): if a hex can trace to multiple sources, will the supply level of a hex be the highest of those multiple sources or will it be increased above that because of the additional sources?

The supply effects of each city is not traced separately. Its all done simultaneously. So first you have all cities assign their supply level to their hex, then all adjacent hexes are done etc. So its a cumulative effect for each hex.

3) Re home country cities generating supply: do enemy cities you control provide any supply or affect supply in any way, or must you trace all the way to your home country cities?

They provide 1/3 of their normal supply level.

4) Also, I assume allied nations all trace supply to the same sources, e.g. all CP supply sources are homogenous so that any CP unit can use any CP supply source?

Yes. US units in France for example do not trace back to New York, they just use the French supply web.

[seaforth7]

Is there anyway to improve supply? Specifically is there any way to up the supply level at Basra or in the middle east? How much would sea supply help forces in those areas?
 
thanks 

[ILCK]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter.

Supply from more than one city can affect a hex so essentially there's kind of a "web" effect where supply levels overlap. Cutting a hex off from a city may reduce some of its supply but not all if it can still trace a path to another friendly city.

Doesn't this create sort of a circular kind of logic?

I ask because I've essentially sliced off the Austrians at the Carpathians but their units in the fortresses won't die- worse they've gone on a rampage towards Warsaw. These units have been isolated from home for better than a year but are still not only alive but taking offensive actions. Here, City A and City B are "helping" each other but both really need help from some other city because both are out of supply.

[FrankHunter]

Is there anyway to improve supply? Specifically is there any way to up the supply level at Basra or in the middle east? How much would sea supply help forces in those areas?

Sea supply would help Basra. But the LOC in that area is pretty bad so the extra supply would still peter out quickly a few hexes away.

[FrankHunter]

I ask because I've essentially sliced off the Austrians at the Carpathians but their units in the fortresses won't die- worse they've gone on a rampage towards Warsaw. These units have been isolated from home for better than a year but are still not only alive but taking offensive actions. Here, City A and City B are "helping" each other but both really need help from some other city because both are out of supply.

The Austrian fortresses do have high intrinsic supply to allow them to be cut off and survive for awhile but that intrinsic supply would be reduced each turn they were cut off. It would take longer to reduce them than it would two regular cities.

If you have a save I'll load it and look at the levels to make sure.

[ILCK]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

If you have a save I'll load it and look at the levels to make sure.

It is in that same save game I sent you.

[SMK-at-work]

bump - here's the explanation of the supply rules!